Adventure Labs and Uncommon Cache types

 My Newest Adventure Lab

As I said in last month's blog, I was gonna build an Adventure Lab in the Las Vegas Dessert!! I have been there enough times and have enough pictures and info, that I was able to set it up without having to go there to build it. It is now live and I am looking forward to the reviews, and doing a test run when we go there in June. If you are in the Vegas area, go check it out!!

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become bigger!!!

This picture shows the most Uncommon and Rare types of caches.

Some of these above Icons are not available anymore. Webcam caches are no longer allowed to be made, but the ones that are out there are still active.

Virtuals are still being made from time to time as Groundspeak gives them to cachers to place on a limited amount. (I am hoping to receive one someday)

Locationless caches come up once and awhile when Groundspeak publishes them.

(Groundspeak is the Geocaching head company, who runs Geocaching.com and all the rules for caching)

 GPS Mazes comes around once and awhile still, but usually only at Mega or Giga Events.

A.P.E. Caches where hidden back in 2001, and only 2 of the 14 are still active to this day. (1 in the Snoqualmie pass, WASH., and 1 in Brazil)

 -I have found all of these types of caches:

 -I have been to the APE cache called "Mission 9: Tunnel of Light" in Snoqualmie pass 2 times for the original and also visited there when they had the replacement tribute cache, when the Cache got stolen.

(the original cache was found years later and replaced back in its original spot)  I have been there during the "Going Ape" events. Will probably go again this year. (To get to it, you have to walk thru a 3.625Km long tunnel)

-I did a GPS adventure maze 3 times, although, 1 of them I was not able to log as the date had past for the event. Of the 2 I was able to log, one was in Edmonton at the Space sciences building, and once just recently at the Geowoodstock XVIII Mega event.

-I have done 5 webcam caches. (2 in BC, and 3 in Washington)

-Got 3 locationless caches, and 160 virtual caches.

I hunt after these type of caches (Virtual and Webcam) whenever I travel somewhere.

I am interested in seeing who has also found all of these Rare Icons. Please feel free to comment on here, would like to know who also goes for these rare and uncommon cache icons.

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

Bike trip to Kettle Valley Rail trail and Myra Canyon

As I noted in last months blog, I have been planning a bike trip to Myra Canyon just East of Kelowna, for Susan and I. As of right now I have 37 caches on the Trail that we will go to. (I have already found 3 of them)
The section we will do is about 30-40km round trip depending on how far we decide to go. We will cache along the way, but then on the return trip there will be no caches to get unless we miss some.

First to Find

Was able to grab a couple of FTF's this month. 

One of them was a Puzzle cache where you had to complete 2 Jigsaw puzzles to get the Coordinates. The cache was up in a tree, so an extendable pole was needed to retrieve it. Can you see it? How about in the next pic?? 

I have a 16 foot extendable pole, which made easy work of it.

Once I had it hooked, I brought it down and was FTF!!!

San Juan Island Trip

I booked a corporate show in Roche Harbor, Wash. on San Juan Island, so I planned out some cool caches for my trip.
I went down and spent the night in Oak Harbor. I have cached there a couple times in the past, but still lots of others to get. I started caching in Burlington where I got a Geochallenge cache, a Multi, a traditional, as well as several puzzle caches, and an Adventure Lab. 

I then made my way to Oak Harbor and grabbed some cool caches. 

One of the caches I grabbed was inside the local Library. Susan and I tried to get this one back in July when we did a weekend trip down to the bottom of  Whidbey Island, but the clue was missing at the first stage. It was replaced so I was able to make the grab before the library closed.

The cache was inside a book. I then headed out for some more caching.

I grabbed a couple of cool caches near the water, one was near a cool Flintstone car. 

I went for a quick ride and made the find!! 

I then started searching for a cache called "Adrift". It was down on the beach and I was having trouble locating it, until someone from a nearby apartment building yelled and asked if I was a geocacher. She gave me a hint and then the cache was in hand. 

I grabbed 2 stages of an Adventure Lab that Susan and I started when we were here, so I could get the bonus cache. I also grabbed a total of 8 Traditional caches and 2 Multi caches before heading back to my hotel for the night. The next morning I was up at 4:30am to head to the Anacortes Ferry to get over to the island for some caching before my show. At the Terminal I was able to do an Earthcache. Always nice to have a cache handy when you happen to be somewhere that you have to wait.

Friday Harbor

After the hour and 20 minute ferry ride, I arrived in a cute little historic town called Friday Harbor. 

 

When I arrived I did 3 Virtual caches all in the same little park, and also started one of the 2 Adventure labs that I would eventually complete. 

There was a cache at the end of the pier that was under a bench but it was a regular size not a micro. I then cruised thru the town completing the AL's and grabbing several caches, before heading across the Island to my final destination for the night.

This Little Piggy was made of Bricks...wait, that's not how the story goes, I thought his house was made of bricks??

On the way to Roche Harbor I got a Letter box cache that was a TB hotel. Can you see the cache in the next picture?

How about now?

English Camp

Stopped on the way at "English Camp" to do a Adventure Lab. This is where in 1859 the killing of a pig on San Juan Island brought England and the United States to the brink of War over the issue of territorial rights here. The "Blockhouse" that you see in the picture above here at Garrison Bay is built with the upper part of the structure turned 45 degrees on the lower half of the building. This was so the soldiers could be protected from all angles as they aimed their rifles out of the loopholes, including down. 

Roche Harbor

I am Here!!!I arrived in Roche Harbor, and was able to do 3 more caches and 4 stages of an Adventure Lab.

I then went and looked at some of the sculptures in "San Juan Island Sculpture Park" Some very cool sculptures within this park.

These were among my favorites.

A whale made from auto parts.

There is no town here in Roche Harbor, It is just the Marine resort.

I did my show on the Dock for a private group of boaters, of 120 people from all over. Even some fellow Canadians. How cool is that!!

The show was in the tent down on the dock. After my show I headed back to Friday Harbor to get the last ferry back to Anacortes, and headed home back to Canada!! All in all an awesome quick trip where I got to perform my comedy and magic for some great people, and I found 4 complete AL's plus 6 stages of 2 different AL's, 44 caches made up of 1 Earthcache, 4 virtuals, 1 Letterbox, 8 puzzle caches, 3 multi's, and 27 Traditional's.

I look forward to coming this way again on another caching adventure!!

 

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Trips, Trips, and more Trips

Bellingham Day trip

Susan and I did a quick day trip thru Ferndale and Bellingham, Washington.

We did 3 Adventure Labs, and 10 caches, one of which was a challenge cache.

This Anchor Memorial at Zuanich Point Park was placed here to honor the Fisherman who went to sea and did not return. It was brought to the area sometime in the early 1800's by Bellinghams first English Explorers 

This pile of rocks is an art piece at the front of someone's house. And yup it has a cache in it.

Found a cache on a Rainbow colored Bridge.

 This is "The Pickett House". It has the distinction of being the oldest building still standing in Bellingham. 

Bike Caching

I have started planning a bike trip in Myra Canyon up near Kelowna. It will be about 28 to 35km return trip.

Lots of caches along the way as well as some awesome scenery, trestles, bridges and tunnels.

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

VEGAS BABY!!

We just booked a trip to Las Vegas for the end of June, so of course, I have already started planning a list of cool caches to find.

The caches we plan on getting will be in 4 different areas. 

The Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street

As you can see, I have already found several along the strip, but Susan has not, and a lot of these caches I have found are virtual caches.

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become bigger!!!

Desert Caches

This area is "7 Magic Mountains" which is an art installation in the middle of the dessert, built with large painted boulders. I have been there a couple of times already on past trips.

We will also go into the town of Goodsprings, Nevada. 

Goodsprings is the home of the Pioneer Saloon, considered to be one of the oldest saloons in Nevada (over 100 years old). The saloon features a bullet hole on the side of the building and a coroner's letter describing how it was created. The saloon is said by many to be haunted by the victim's ghost.

We will also go thru the "Red Rock Canyon" which is located west of Las Vegas.

I have been there a couple of times also. The first time I visited there was in February of 2019 and it had snowed in Vegas for the first time in 20 years, and the Canyon loop was closed.

The Red Rock Canyon is such a picturesque place. Some awesome scenery and history.

Nevada/ Colorado Border

we will also head over to Hoover Dam and cross the border into Arizona so Susan can get one cache there.(I already got it)

I am also planning on building an Adventure Lab in Vegas, while I am there. (some of it, I can build from home) The cool thing with Virtual caches and adventure labs is there is no physical cache placed, so there is nothing to maintain. Although I wouldn't mind traveling back and forth to Vegas when needed. lol

But I do that anyway already!!

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

Caching From Vancouver Island to Alberta

Courtenay Trip

I Booked a show over in Courtenay on Vancouver Island this month. I used to live there, and that is where I got my start into Geocaching back in September of 2008. Susan and I grabbed several caches from Nanaimo to Courtenay on the way to my show, including some that I had already got when I lived there and from other trips up that way. We took the old Island Highway on the way there. If you have the time, I suggest this route as it is very scenic and more accessible caches.

 

This spot had a virtual cache called "Royston Wrecks", Beginning in the late 1930s a total of fifteen old vessels were brought in and sunk just to the south of the booming grounds. These ships are known as the Royston Wrecks.

Today the breakwater is a dangerous place to visit due to the advanced stage of deterioration of these ships. It is also home to many forms of wildlife and has been designated off limits.

I also planned on stopping at a cache I own in Rosewall Creek Provincial Park which I placed in June 2011 as a promotion for BC Parks in conjunction with the BCGA which I was the Vice president at the time. It was to Celebrate 100 Years of BC Parks. The following is part of the writeup on the cache page:

BC Parks is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The first BC Park was Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island which was officially created on March 1, 1911.

Today, the parks system in British Columbia is one of our greatest resources. Currently 14.26% (13.5 million hectares) of British Columbia's land base is protected.

There are more than 340 campgrounds, 6000 km of hiking trails, 118 boat launches and 263 day-use areas in B.C.'s provincial park system.

BC Parks and the BC Geocaching Association are partnered along with the Year of Science to invite you to explore BC Parks.

I had actually planned on picking it up and Archiving it, as It doesn't get logged much anymore. Weirdly, Susan and I looked for about 30 minutes and couldn't find it. lol 

I am hoping it is still there, so I have left the cache page active for now. Maybe on my next trip over I will look again.

On the day after my show, we headed down Island to visit some friends in Cobble Hill area. Of course we grabbed some caches along the way.

This old tug boat has a lot of history and miles on it.

It was part of an Adventure Lab placed in Ladysmith area by my caching friend Paulboy.

All 5 stages where fairly close to each other so it made a nice walk.

This opening in the bottom of a floating building is used to watch the sealife below.

A very well built Little Free library with a geocache in the top section, in Comox.

This Snowbird plane sits prominently in front of the Comox Valley Visitors center and holds a clue to the lock for a nearby geocache.

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become bigger!!!


In total in the day and a half we spent on the Island I got 

4 Virtual caches, 1 Multi cache, 2 puzzle caches, 1 Adventure Lab, and 17 Traditional caches. 

Not to bad for a quick trip out to Vancouver Island.

Edmonton Trip

I flew to Edmonton for 5 days, and I ended up getting more Adventure labs than actual caches. When I arrived in the Edmonton Airport I was able to get 2 different AL's without having to move all over the terminal. They were all questions about Edmonton and some of the different locations and attractions around Edmonton such as Elk Island park and the Edmonton Oilers . I was able to answer them all on the way to outside of the Airport. 

While in town, I went to West Edmonton Mall. The last time Oliver and I were here, I did 4 out of 5 stages of an Adventure Lab. Today I was able to finish the AL by visiting the last stage, plus there was a new AL and a Virtual inside the mall for me to do. 

I love it when you can enjoy a place and also get different caches. I didn't even have to go outside, which was good because it was cold and snowy in Edmonton. Lol



PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

West Edmonton Mall has so many attractions to enjoy and see. 

They have an exact replica of the Santa Maria which is the vessel that Christopher Columbus used to sail to America in 1492.

There is also the Mindbender which is the largest indoor triple looping roller coaster in the world. But after it being there for 37 years it was shut down in January of this year. It was Fantasyland parks  (Now called Galaxyland) premier thrill ride since the Grand opening of the park in 1985 

When I lived in Edmonton, I used to ride it quite often, when visiting the mall.

Well that's it for this month!!

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65

A Great start to a New Year!!!

New Years Souvenirs and 2022 in Review

The above pic is 2022 year in review. Stats always fascinate me.

Magic Shows Science World

I got to perform at Science world a couple of days, during Christmas break. Great crowds and lots of fun!!

Got lots of great photo's of my shows.

NOTE: The highlighted or underlined words in my blog can be clicked on as they are links to other cool stuff!! Also if you click on any of the pictures they become bigger!!!

Caching in the Sun!!

Went out with Sansue on a sunny afternoon and grabbed 9 caches, in Pitt Meadows. 2 were multis and a few were high difficulty caches. 

This one was called "Blockhead"

It was found quite easily as it was out in the open, so I hid it a little better.

Just a rock????

NOPE!!!

This one had us walking in circles for a bit.

PS: On the right hand side of this webpage is where you can find my YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, links. Please feel free to check them out and follow or subscribe!!!

Columbus Ohio Trip

Went to Columbus, Ohio for a Magic convention at the end of January. On the first day of my trip, I traveled down to Seattle to fly out the next morning. I got 14 caches on the way to airport, including a First to Find before heading over the border. One was a puzzle cache which was also a challenge that I was able to find as I have completed the task. One was a Letterbox cache and then also 12 traditional caches but 2 were very cool gadget caches by “Bouncebounce”

I will probably visit these again when Susan and I go down that way, just so she can enjoy them also.

Whenever I head down this way, I seek out his caches as they are very cool gadget caches that he puts a lot of work into.

2 caches I found were cool little free libraries. 

One was very colorful and the other was designed like an old fishing building.

Awesome craftsmanship in this Free Library structure.

DAY 2:

Got to Seattle airport just after midnight and once inside I was able to do a virtual cache and 2 5-stage adventure labs. 

One of the benefits of being 6 hours early for my flight. Lol. A total of 11 finds all in one place.

So much cool art work in this airport

On day 2 of my trip, I found a total of 3 different Virtuals in 3 different states (Washington, Michigan, and Ohio)

I also got 2 new state souvenirs, and 3 Adventure labs.

A virtual at the bust of Edward H. McNamara, and who the airport is named after.

So many cool sculptures and architecture near my hotel in Columbus.

Day 3:

Today I was only able to get 2 nearby stages of an Adventure Lab between my hotel and the convention hotel, as I was at the convention all day long.

Day 4:

Today I tried to do a cache that was on the roof of a parkade, but the doors were locked to get to the elevator and stairs. So I got no caches today but had a great time at the convention. 

Day 5:

Headed to the Columbus airport early as my flight home was at 6:30am. Got to the airport and was able to get the Virtual there. 

Very interesting sculpture called "Brushstrokes in Flight"

The Columbus airport was almost empty, so it was easy to get a good picture.

Had a 4 1/2 hour layover in Detroit but I had already got the AL on my way here, so not much to do but wait. lol

Once back into Seattle, I got in my car and started heading for the border back to BC. 

I grabbed a Virtual and a Traditional in Marysville, and one more challenge cache on the way home. All in all a great trip, lots of Awesome Magic, some great caches and home safe. 

Well that's it for this month,

Keep on caching!!

Chris Yuill

Magicman65